#self rb cause I do love the coloring | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

aemiron-main · 1 year

Note

HELLO AGAIN!! Just wanna say that I love your analyses as always. THE NATURE DOCUMENTARY ONE, LITERALLY UNHINGED IT'S SO GOOD. YOU'RE SO GOOD!!!

You talking about how Mike used to be open about his emotions, but isn't anymore with the milk analogy???? JAIL!! PUTING YOU IN JAIL AGAIN- IT'S SO GOOD.

Anyways I've been reading on repressing and suppressing emotions?? Ok so I'm not claiming to be a professional or anything, I'm just reciting what I've read about!! IT'S JUST REALLY INTERESTING TO TALK ABOUT in the case of Mike.

Ok before I go on a tangent, I found something interesting-

CRYING!! MIKE WHEELER??-

Anyways suppressing is when you avoid talking or expressing an unwanted or uncomfortable emotion and in order to do that, some may do something to distract themselves, in the case of Mike (Him playing video games in the basement.) BUT there's also controlling your intake of food!! which is what Mike might also be doing. He's looking for some control.

Suppressing emotions happens when you don't know what to do with said emotions (aka his feelings for Will, he's having thoughts about Will so he ignores/avoids them by playing video games.) Basically suppression is something that you actively do whilst repressing is more unconscious. Mike might be a mix of these 2.

I think by the end of S4 or something he might be leaning more towards repression.

I wanna talk more about how his family life causes this, cause it's soo interesting. Mike doesn't know how to healthily express his emotions, because his parents are emotionally stunt. They've never talk about their emotions, so it's just uncomfortable for him to do so because he didn't grow up in an environment where doing so was considered normal. I think this effect the entirety of the Wheeler kids. They just don't know what to do with feelings, so they shove it down aka suppressing them. Just shoving them down so they don't have to deal with them.

Wonder why Mike feels more dull in S4? Going back to watch clips from S1-2 felt like experiencing smth different. Mike felt more explosive you could say, he was moody and angry, but at least it was an emotion. S3-4 felt like watching the colors drain out of him, because that's when he learns to shove them down, cause they're bad. Feelings like anger, frustration, sadness anything!! He shoves them down. Cause 1) he's shown that he can't express these feelings without repercussions, his parents punishment for acting out instead of understanding him. 2) He's been shown that these emotions are not important.

He thinks he shouldn't have these emotions, because he's not allowed to, he hasn't suffered enough to feel these.

Feels like I'm just repeating things, but he's SUCH an interesting character to talk about!!! Anyways just came here to say that you're probably my fav (personally) Mike analyst. You do it so well!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAA HELLO OMG!!! IM SO SLOW AT REPLYING TO ASKS IM SORRY BUT FIRST OF ALL THANK YOU SO SO MUCH YOU'RE SO SWEET AND IM SO GLAD YOU LIKE MY ANALYSIS!! I LOVE UR ART AND I LOVE UR MIKE'S LACK OF SELF VALUE ANALYSIS (i have a rb of it in my drafts i promise i havent forgotten abt it)!! AFBJHJBH THANK YOU THE MILK POST WENT FROM BEING A SHITPOST ABT HIM DRINKING MILK WHEN HES STRESSED INTO AN ACTUAL ANALYSIS BC I WAS LIKE 'wait... wAIT... a pattern is appearing..." AND YES OMG HELL YEAH IM SO EXCITED TO SEE YOUR THOUGHTS!! Okay so YES!!!!! THAT ABSOLUTELY SOUNDS LIKE MIKE AGHH!!! YOURE SO RIGHT!! Mike in the basement, but also mike controlling his food intake!! I personally think that when it comes to mike & food as a source of control, its more of a subconscious thing rather than actively being aware of it, like he lacks appetite and isnt eating for a variety of reasons which i need to make a full post on one day, and so he then associates not eating w that feeling of being in control and so then it’s just another reason on his list of various reasons as to why he ends up avoiding food! Esp since i think mike’s food issues are also tied to his repression of his emotions and queerness and guilt and again how he’s subconsciously seeking control through food, but also how he associates ‘real food’ in s1 with family and karen’s cooking but as that relationship w his family deteriorates, esp bc of his guilt abt his queerness and bc of his depression/mental health in general, his relationship w food also deteriorates. Mike’s life has had so many moments of a loss of control, esp w the supernatural stuff, but I feel like a.) the continuation of his relationship with el and feeling like he has very little control over that relationship bc theres so many expectations for him and b.) feeling like he’s lost will are two core losses of control that are really affecting him pre-s4, esp feeling like he’s failed and lost will and out of control of his life bc his sense of stability (will’s presence in his life) is gone, and so he’s seeking a sense of control through food while simultaneously punishing himself/neglecting himself by not eating. And that is SUCH a great point both about a.) mike’s feelings for will and focusing on videogames and b.) the distinction between repression vs suppression. I def think mike has a mix of those two, and is leaning towards repression in s4, yes!!!!

“I wanna talk more about how his family life causes this, cause it's soo interesting. Mike doesn't know how to healthily express his emotions, because his parents are emotionally stunt. They've never talk about their emotions, so it's just uncomfortable for him to do so because he didn't grow up in an environment where doing so was considered normal. I think this effect the entirety of the Wheeler kids. They just don't know what to do with feelings, so they shove it down aka suppressing them. Just shoving them down so they don't have to deal with them.” And that’s another fantastic point/great way of framing it, as if he feels “more dull,” in s4, because he DOES, because he’s tired and struggling and pushing down his emotions and feels like he’s always going to be demeaned or ignored if he expresses them!!! Mike’s parents are SO emotionally unavailable and not only do they fail to encourage Mike to show his emotions, but they also punish him for it too! In s2, when he’s upset and expressing himself about having to give away his toys, Karen reprimands him for his upset & reminds him off things that he did like graffitiing the bathroom stall- which is odd because he’s already BEEN punished for those things, he’s already lost his Atari, and the toys aren’t actually tied to his “bad behaviour,” but rather, Karen wants the toys to be given away & is using mike’s “bad behaviour” as an excuse. It also struck me that Ted, who’s usually pretty silent, chimed in to give Mike shit with his “strike 20 you’re on the bench, son” comment but we never see Ted chime in to defend Mike in any of the dinner scenes, only to reprimand him. We don’t even see Ted and Mike have a nice normal conversation at the dinner table- or EVER! When was the last time we saw Mike and Ted just. Talk. At all. An actual conversation, not even a deep serious one but just anything that isn’t just “Ted making snarky comments at Mike”? Hell, Mike doesn’t even respond to Ted’s snarky comments at the s2 dinner table, nor does he respond to them in the kitchen scene in s4 ep1. He’s responding to Karen in both scenes but not Ted. We literally haven’t seen an actual conversation between Mike and Ted at all. The CLOSEST we’ve gotten to that is s1 ep1 where Ted is fixing the tv & Mike tries to ask about staying longer for dnd but Ted shuts him down and tells him to talk to/listen to Karen. This is REALLY interesting to me because that’s the only time we really see any sort of two way dialogue between Mike and Ted where they’re even just. Responding directly to eachother at all. And it’s because from that scene, Mike has learned that he can’t go to Ted and that Ted’s just going to redirect him to Karen & not listen to Mike, so then in Mike’s mind, why should he even bother with Ted? Mike shoves down his feelings SO MUCH, we see him get shut down so often and eventually he just starts shutting himself down & repressing his own emotions before anyone else can try and shut him down. “S3-4 felt like watching the colors drain out of him” THIS IS SO SO TRUE AND ACCURATE AND AGAIN IS A FANTASTIC WAY OF FRAMING/PHRASING IT!!! THATS EXACTLY WHAT IT IS!! And i completely agree, at least he was EXPRESSING himself, at least it was emotions, but then in s3-s4, he REALLY starts shoving them down, because exactly like you said, he’s been shown that not only are his emotions deemed unimportant, but they’re also actively punished.

He thinks he shouldn't have these emotions, because he's not allowed to, he hasn't suffered enough to feel these.

EXACTLY!!!!! He feels like he isn’t suffering enough because of how he compares himself to others & invalidates his own experiences and emotions & how other people, including El (with the s4 bedroom fight scene and her invalidating him when he talks about being bullied) have invalidated and shut him down too. And that’s part of what frustrates me about some of the discussion surrounding Mike’s mental health in the fandom too- they fall into that same “Mike hasn’t suffered enough to have mental health issues,” trap, and compare Mike to other characters and use that comparison to invalidate and willfully ignore his struggles and it’s NOT frustrating because that approach completely misses the POINT of how Mike’s character aligns with people who feel like they are suffering enough & who are invisible & who invalidate themselves because of how they’ve been invalidated by others.

HES SUCH AN INTERESTING CHARACTER AND I LOVE THE THOUGHTS YOUVE MENTIONED HERE!! And thank you so, so much omg that makes me so happy because i LOVE analyzing him! YOURE SO SWEET THANK YOU SM AAAAAAAAAAA!!! 💗💕

#st asks #stranger things #souppiemousse #mike wheeler analysis #mike's mental health #st analysis #wheeler family #ted wheeler ref #Karen wheeler ref #TW ed #mike’s food issues

23 notes · View notes

thecountandtheraven · 9 months

Text

About Me :)

Discord: count._.chocula

Hi im Raven / Count Chocula, whichever you like better

(Formerly known as countchoculaart)

Him / Them • transmasc • queer • minor

I edit this all the time (to update things or just fuck around w/ colors) so you can read however many times you’d like

Current hyperfixation:

Will Wood (+ LITWTC)

(I barely rb any other fandoms)

Fandoms -

Will Wood (and the tapeworms) [WW(ATT)]

Life In The World To Come [LITWTC]

Lemon Demon

Human Zoo

Jack Stauber

Mitski

Five Nights at Freddy’s [FNAF]

Vocaloid (mostly miku)

The Walten Files [TWF]

Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared [DHMIS]

Various children’s shows (always welcome to reccs)

Some other stuff I can’t remember atm

Musicians i like but am not in a fandom for:

MARINA

Lemon Demon (half in the fandom but idk enough lore)

Oingo Boingo

The Oozes

Dazey and the Scouts

Various other fem punk bands

A Verbal Equinox

Jhariah

Sir Chloe

Roar

Younger Hunger

Solya

Sodikken

#count chocula art is where i put my art if i hAD ANY

#save tag is kinda self explanatory, for stuff i wanna come back to

#non rb is kinda self explanatory but i don’t use it anymore but i mostly just use ->

#raven’s ramblings is random shitposts & stuff

#fav has all my favorite little trinkets and yippees

#i love tumblr is pretty much the same as #fav but more specific the the silly shenanigans of tumblr

#<3 is where i put all the cute sillies (animals & such)

~~~~~Big ugly block of text~~~~~

16 (im a minor so don’t say / do creepy shit) • I’m some kind of queer + transmasc but very tired of gender • I respect your opinions unless they don’t respect me • I (re)blog abt whatever my current hyperfixation is + on occasian some of my art • if you know lemon demon lore please info dump to me cause idk where to start & in exchange i can tell you extremely niche things abt Will Wood

☆Userboxes☆

(Stolen from various ppl)

#introducing post #about me #raven’s ramblings

5 notes · View notes

tittyblade · 3 years

Text

tumblr etiquette 101

a list that is nowhere near exhaustive, from yours truly.

First off, welcome! Whether you’re a twitter veteran looking for anything but whatever twitter is, or a new user just done signing up, glad to see you in our ranks beloveds! Welcome home. Refer to this quick tour to make sure your fandom experience (or tumblr experience in general) is a positive one!

Disclaimer: I know it’s long, but please try to read or skim through til the end if you’re new here! This is by no means meant to be a rule book (for the most part lol), only a guide to help you get settled easier!

1) Your blog

This is where people will see and interact with you, so put some effort into it!

Try to choose a name (url) that’s simple. You can see it as your brand, it’s how people will perceive you and remember you. If you’d like to interact with other users here (and not use the site just for the content) it’s better to have something short and sweet, preferably without spaces. (Of course, these are only suggestions.) Rest assured, you can change it literally any time you want.

Have a theme. Utilize the tool that lets you edit your blog’s color or the font of your bio! You can make it match your profile picture, or your blog if it has a theme of its own. Make it feel homey :]

Fill in your bio. People will be checking out your profile probably more often than you think. Don’t leave it empty! Put in any information you’re comfortable with sharing and isn’t too personal (like your age if you’re a minor, or other TMI that can be found on other people’s carrds). It’s always better to add a name/nickname people can use to refer to you by, but feel free to use your blog description to shitpost still.

You can have an intro post. More often than not, you’ll see a blog have a pinned post, a post permanently appearing at the top of a blog until you pin another post or unpin it. You can make one of those, if you’d like to introduce yourself in more length, link any other socials or a carrd, and show others visiting your blog how you tag things so it’ll be easy for them to navigate. Not an obligation.

Keep your anonymity and your safety. It should go without saying, but there’s no harm in repeating it just in case. Your comfort, privacy and safety has the utmost importance. Don’t share any information you don’t want to. Don’t share your age if you’re a minor, or any other incredibly personal info. I’d encourage you to go by a nickname that’s not your real name, (blog name, your brand, remember?) since there’s safety in anonymity, and that’s lowkey one of the big deals of tumblr, but that’s up to you still.

Choose what you want to be visible. Your liked posts and who you follow are all things you can set to keep to yourself and hide from the publics eye, how handy! You should go through all the setting while you’re at it, set it to your comfort.

Side blogs are a thing. You can have multiple blogs that you can use for different things (see: different fandoms, art blog, etc) to keep them organized or away from your followers. Just remember that the replies and off-anon asks you send will be from your main blog, as well as where you follow other blogs from.

2) Interacting with others

You’ve set up your account, now comes the fun part!

Follow to your heart’s desire. If you care about others seeing who you follow, fear not! In tumblr, usually only two types of blogs keep their following visible to others: newbies, and big blogs using it to point people on other good blogs’ direction. Just turn it off, and go ham following people.

Customize your dashboard. Gonna mention just two things here: this is another reason why it’s really important that you follow blogs without sparing, your dash will collect dust otherwise; and you should turn off “best stuff first” in your dashboard settings, to have a better community here and all.

Follow tags. You can set it in your settings that posts with your followed tags appear on your dashboard.

You can check the og post for edits and context. When you see a reblogged post you don’t understand the context of (or don’t recognize the character in case of fanarts), click on the profile so it will take you to the original post. From there you can check the original poster’s tags to get the context, or see if there have been any edits made to the post, since when you edit a post it doesn’t update any past reblogs.

Send people asks... This is how you make mutuals, people! Do it off-anon if you’d like them to know your blog, or anon if you’d rather not! (You can still end your messages with a signature to show you’re the same person, -[name] is one example.) Send them nice messages, ask their opinion on something, discuss things, or just straight up shitpost lol. Go wild. The sky’s your limit and it’s definitely more than 280 characters.

...and let them ask you! You can set your preference in the settings, do it on desktop tumblr to access more settings tho! What you can customize on mobile is limited (like letting people ask you things anonymously, that’s only on desktop settings). In my personal opinion, it’s always better to tag their username (or a nickname you give them, if they’re a friend) on that post, since you wouldn’t want your interactions with your friends to get buried in your blog forever.

Comment on posts. If you have something to say but don’t want the post to appear on your blog you can add a comment. The owner of the post will get a notif for it, but for anyone else you need to tag them.

For the love of god, reblog. People will only see your liked posts if you have it visible to public and they specifically go on your blog to look at them. You like something? You reblog. It’s already hard for posts to circulate properly, if you don’t reblog them literally no one will see them. If not for anything do it for the artists. Just hold and drag on mobile to fast rb.

3) Your Posts

Finally here! Don’t be a lurker, post and engage!

Make use of “read more”. If your post is long, add it. That’s what you clicked on earlier to expand this post. On desktop leave an empty line and you’ll see three dots appear, and on mobile type :readmore: on that empty line.

Draft a post to come back to it later. Pretty self explanatory.

Queue your post. Whether it’s your own post or you’re reblogging, make use of the queue feature to a) not spam reblog and fill up the dashboard of people following you and b) keep your blog active while you’re gone. Mess around in the settings, it’s fairly easy to set up.

Schedule your post. Same as queueing, the only difference is you get to choose the exact time your post will go up. Handy if you want to schedule a post for certain dates like april fools, or 5 years in the future for some reason.

Format your texts. You can do all kinds of fancy stuff here (that’s a link, try pressing on it). Twitter doesn’t have this, make use of it. Changes depending on whether you’re on mobile or desktop. (Desktop has less features.)

Check your stats. If you’re trying to understand the algorithm better or want to look at some pretty graphs you can get your data on that on desktop tumblr.

@ people in comments. You’ll get all the notifs when people comment on your posts but they won’t see your reply unless you tag them in your message.

4) Tags, and tagging a post

This is where my earlier statement “this isn’t a rule book” stops being applicable. It’s not a war crime to go against these, I won’t come chasing you (don’t take my word for this) but you’ll work up a bad rep. Just saying lol.

Do NOT crosstag posts. It’s really tempting to add unrelated tags to increase your posts’ interaction, I know, but that’s not what tumblr is about. Don’t be a dick and make other communities’ experience worse for them.

Always tag your posts with “crit/critical/discourse/etc” if it calls for it. There’s no exceptions to it. This is the reason you see people migrating to tumblr. Let people enjoy things.

Don’t main tag a critical/negative post. If your crit post is about “Thing”, you add the “Thing critical” tag, but not the “Thing” tag. People block crit tags if they don’t want to see it, don’t shove it in their faces by main tagging it.

If you don’t want to see something, just block it. Another reason why people are able to survive on tumblr. You don’t start discourse, you don’t make call-outs, you block. You can find something for every community you can think of if you go looking for it. The worst of the worst probably won’t ever appear on your dash, but if you’re worried or feel the need for it, you know where the block button is.

Feel free to shitpost or ramble. More often than not you’ll see people rb a post with a comment, and their elaboration will be in the tags. The tags are only visible on your profile and the notifications of the owner of the og blog. Just a thing people do.

Reblog artists’ posts with nice comments in the tags! Commenting on a drawing is usually done through the tags (Not an obligation, again, just a thing people do. Feel free to add your comment on the rb itself if you’d want other people to see it tho!) and leave nice messages for the artists! It’s a win-win for everyone involved.

If you have more than a single follower, always use the common tw warning tags. You don’t need to tw everything, but tw’ing some common things is the bare minimum human decency. Keep it safe for others.

Tag a post “long post” if it’s really long. Pretty self explanatory. Don’t make people scroll through all that please lol.

You can use them to organize your blog. This is more of a pro tip, if you’d like to not miss a post in your blog, cause they will start pilin’ up soon enough.

#Liveblogging is pretty fun. If you’d like to talk to people during streams, don’t forget to add the relevant tags still! Again, you won’t show up on people’s dash otherwise.

Whew! That got out of hand. Hopefully I didn’t bore you too much. Check out blogs like @heritageposts and @hellsite-hall-of-fame to honor our past o7. @mcytblr-hall-of-fame too maybe :eyes:. Anyways, don’t forget the most important rule of them all:

Enjoy your stay! You’re meant to have fun on here while also making friends (if that’s your thing). Just be kind and respectful of others, you’ll get the hang of the rest! <3

#mcyttwt #mcytblr #dream team #dream smp #mcyt #dsmp #tumblr #how to tumblr #gonna tag ppl now so more users will see it lol #dreamwasteken #georgenotfound #karl jacobs #technoblade #sbi #twitter #twitter discourse #sbitwt #sleepytwt #sleepy bois inc #HOLY shit this took so long omg my back literally hurts rn #the fuckin lengths i go to make sure tumblr doesnt get tainted w twt LMAO #anyways if youre seeing this you should follow me look at how sexy i am i spent the last 2+ hours typing this goddamn list out #also: ignore how i literally sound like its 2014 at some parts here lol i tried my best #also ignore how wack the paragraph breaks are tumblrs formatting hates me and its 4 am im too tired for this #third also: some bits here are supposed to be ironic keep that in mind pls #rolan.txt #long post #save #yes im tagging my own post as save what about it

2K notes · View notes

septicbro1005 · 3 years

Note

Can anyone explain a pretty thorough explanation of who Peter is? Because a friend asked about him, and she said wouldn’t mind the whole thing, and I realized, I know the whole thing but it’s in my head and I can’t explain it, I just know who he is. ~🐢

Okay, so I can try to do it, but I may start info-dumping, so feel free to eliminate whatever your feel isn't necessary. If anyone else wants to add-on or just rb this and say whatever the hell they want about him, be my guest. i'm gonna put this under the cut in case i ramble too long

so i'm assuming this is peter from the x-men movies and we're not talking about pietro maximoff as an entire character. peter is the son of magneto (erik lehnsherr) and his mother (unnamed in the x-men movies as far as i'm aware)

erik had an affair of some sort with peter's mother before leaving, causing her to birth and raise peter on her own. peter is born a mutant, his mutation being superspeed. for some reason, his mutation also caused his hair to be a silver color. he also is likely a kleptomaniac, though i don't believe that was ever confirmed in canon (charles xavier called him a kleptomaniac, but this was without use of his powers, so this could just be something to make people laugh or mere speculation)

we first see peter in x-men days of future past, back in the year 1973, where i do believe he's 18 or 17. he's shown to have an extremely messy room (which is his mom's basement), and seems to love sweets as his walls are lined with several different name brand desserts and he also manages to eat a popsicle at scarily fast place. he's a little bit sassy, asking charles, hank, and logan "powers, what powers? you see anything strange here? nothing anybody'd believe if you told 'em?" he also enjoys video games, seeming to go as far as purchasing/stealing full arcade cabinets.

he's asked to break erik (who doesn't know he has a son, and peter isn't aware erik is his father yet) out of the pentagon. he's suspicious until logan showcases his mutation, going with them without seeming to ask any other questions. he is then forced to go into the pentagon in a uniform stolen from a guard (who he duct taped to the wall of an elevator), pretending to deliver a meal to erik. he uses his super speed on his hands, causing them to vibrate the glass cell so much until the cell breaks open. he then speeds erik back to the elevator, asking him what he did and poking fun while he does so. asking "what you do, man? what you do? what you dooooo? why'd they have you in there?" and once he gets his answer, he just waits a moment before asking him some other random questions. he mentions how his mom used to know a guy who could control metal, yet neither of them realize erik is peter's father.

erik and peter end up meeting up with the rest of their group. then literally one of my favorite scenes in cinema happens.

youtube

He just has all the fun in the world, racing around a pentagon kitchen and fucking around with the guards. he gives them wedges, makes them punch themselves in the face, and all of that fun stuff, all in slow motion. he moves bullets out of the way too, just listening to music and smiling most of the time.

that's about all you really get to see of him in that movie, but he has a much larger presence in X-men: Apocalypse. it's now 1983, and peter is either 27 or 28, still living in his mom's basement. there's still loads of random (and quite possibly stolen) goods lining his walls and such, but he's eyeballing a card about Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters he likely swiped off of charles ten years ago. he's watching the news, seeing how erik ended up killing several policemen in (i believe) poland. he wants to go after erik, implying that he now knows erik is his father. his mother finds that he was watching the news, saying she can't stop him from trying to find his father, but that it's not a good idea. of course, peter decides to go anyway.

a while later into the film we get another fantastic slow-motion scene, which is also one of my favorite scenes in cinema.

youtube

This time, instead of fucking around with guards in the pentagon, he is saving everybody in the X-mansion from an explosion. and he has fun with it from the first few people. he messes around with people's hair, does things with flair, and throws some really bad kisser in the air. (just realized that rhymed, and i'm too lazy to change that, so enjoy)

after this whole scene happens, he's then knocked out and brought to a government facility and kept there until he's broken out by cyclops, jean grey, and nightcrawler. they then do their best to fly to cairo, egypt, to save charles from apocalypse (who wants to take charles' body and wipe out the human race, yadda yadda)

erik is working for apocalypse in this movie, which peter realizes, demanding he goes with the group to cairo. he's going solely to see his father and let him know. peter goes with mystique up to where erik is, and after mystique gives a monologue about family, erik asks peter what he's doing there.

"i'm your... i'm here for my family too."

erik doesn't connect the dots, still unaware of his relationship with peter. peter and mystique go back to meet up with the rest of the group, which have saved charles (sorta) and peter decides to go fuck up apocalypse. except apocalypse had an uno reverse card on him, and he dislocated peter's arm and broke his fucking knee. so the speedster was out of commission.

unfortunately, he didn't get to do much else in X-men Dark Phoenix, only getting about five minutes of screen time. he didn't get to tell erik about his relations at all. (which i'm super salty about, but we'll let that slide.)

peter has a much more confident facade he puts up, coming off as cocky and sarcastic, usually using tongue in cheek humor. though he's also very self-deprecating in his own humor, calling himself a "loser" to lighten the mood.

so, uh, tl;dr: peter maximoff, the son of magneto, is a guy with a confident and sassy mask he uses to cover up some good ol' insecurity. his mutation is super speed which he uses for mundane tasks, but he will get serious if ever required.

so sorry if this is too long, i just infodumped like crazy, lmao. can you tell this dude is my comfort character?

#sweet asks for septic #mr dibbles anon #anonymous #mr dibbles my beloved #peter maximoff #quicksilver

6 notes · View notes

masonjar191 · 5 years

Text

ThorBruce AU

Pain

Changed canon- Loki does not cause the battle of New York, it’s all Thanos.

Everyone is born with two letters on their wrist- the initials of their soulmate. Not every soulmate is a romantic partner, many are best friends, the kind you want to spend every waking moment with, and when you are apart you feel as if you’ll never be happy again until you are in their presence. Most are the same age, born days, weeks, or a few months apart. Rarer are the pairings in which the soulmate in question isn’t even a thought. Even rarer yet are when soulmates are decades or centuries apart in age.

Thor, the Asgardian prince, would live over a thousand years before his soulmate, a Midgardian by the name of Bruce would be born. It would be longer still until they met while saving the world from an alien attack.

8-year-old Thor snuggled into bed as he begged his Mum to tell a story. “About the soulmates, Mummy!” he thought to his own mark, displaying the initials “RB”. He wondered what their name was, what they looked like, when he would meet them and on what Realm…

“Well, Thor,” Frigga began. “Since the beginning of time, there have been soulmates, whose souls were torn apart during the Big Bang that created the Nine Realms. Every being ever born had and will have a soulmate. My soulmate is your Father, yours is RB, Loki’s is GM. You will know when you have met them because you will be engulfed in light and your marks will change color to match their favorite hue. After you meet, you will feel their pain, albeit muted.”

Thor smiled, dreaming of the day he gets to meet RB.

Bruce Banner was born Rebecca Alice Banner in 1969, a little over 1,000 years after his soulmate. From a young age, he never felt right in his body, leading to him declaring he was a boy at age 12.

“What the fuck do you mean you’re a boy?” Brian Banner screamed that night. “This TO man on your wrist isn’t going to want to be mated to a faggot. God damn it, Rebecca, I won’t raise a tranny!” Brian hit Bruce over the head, knocking the pre-teen unconscious.

When the young boy awoke, he cried, knowing his father would never accept him. Why would Brian? All Bruce had known was abuse from the alcoholic, hell, Brian had killed Bruce’s mother in front of him just a few months prior. Bruce knew if his mom was still alive, she would accept him, she had always been kind and accepting of the “Queers” he saw on television sometimes. Bruce knew he was a queer, liking boys while he knew deep inside, he was one as well. He knew TO was a man as well, although how old, he didn’t know.

“When will I be king?” the now almost-grown Thor asked Odin. He was physically a grown man. Hel, even his little brother was in his late adolescent years and Thor was 500 years older than Loki!

“When you meet your soulmate, my boy,” Odin grumbled, becoming used to the question being asked from both of his sons. Hela had asked when she would be Queen, as well. At one point she had taken the thrown forcefully, only to be banished. Odin was thankful he had raised his sons to be peaceful rather than seek war. Or at least he thought he had until Thor went to Jotunheim to fight the Frost Giants that had interrupted his coronation.

Odin was to be entering Odinsleep soon, so he temporarily named the boy King, even though neither boy had met his soulmate. Truth be told, Odin had put it off so long that he was afraid the stress would kill him, but he could not force either boy to meet their soulmate. A temporary arrangement would be enough. Until Thor disobeyed him.

“Damn it, boy! This is why I put this off for so long! You are a foolish, cruel, vain boy!” Odin screamed when he rescued Thor from Jotunheim.

“And you are an old man and a fool!” Thor retorted.

“You are unworthy! Unworthy of the crown, of your power,” Odin cried as he stripped Thor of his Asgardian strength. “I hereby banish you to Midgard!” Odin hoped Thor would meet his soulmate on Midgard. He set upon two terms to end his banishment- either Thor gets over his selfishness, or he meets his soulmate.

After Bruce left home in 1990, he immediately began transitioning. The twenty-year-old scraped together enough money to start hormones, get his breasts removed, and change his name to Robert Bruce Banner. He knew his soulmate would be looking for an RB, so he reluctantly kept the R initial. He had gone by Bruce at school since he entered senior high. Then, he poured himself into his studies, earning seven Ph.D.’s- in Gamma radiation, sexual health, astrophysics, Nuclear physics, philosophy, biochemistry, and medicine.

Bruce had taken up a teaching job at Culver University as Professor of Biochemistry. After the 9/11 attacks, he dedicated his life to helping others, which led him to be recruited by Thaddeus Ross. Unfortunately, it had the side effect of turning the young scientist into what became known as Hulk.

While Bruce had once, and still, hated himself because he was born female, he now hated himself because he turned into a green rage monster if he got angry. He went on the run, sacrificing his testosterone for his safety. Eventually, he was found, but not before he attempted suicide to rid himself of the monster. Looking back, Bruce was thankful he had failed, knowing TO would never forgive himself if Bruce had died before they met.

Years later, after Bruce got back on T, although still on the run from the military, he was focused on providing medical care for others, deciding that even if he could turn into Hulk, he could use his normal, less-of-a-freak self for good rather than the destruction Hulk brought.

Thor didn’t meet his soulmate- in fact, RB was on the other side of the country, but he proved himself worthy by sacrificing himself to save his friends on Midgard.

“Did you meet RB?” Loki asked excitedly when Thor returned.

“What do you think, brother?” Thor snapped, shoving the still black letters to Loki’s face. “Did you meet GM yet?”

“Nay, though I hope I meet them soon, I’m tired of being a child by Asgardian terms,”

“Loki, as the Midgardians see it, you’re a child there too. I am barely an adult. If RB would hurry up and enter my life, that would be grand!”

“I am sure we will meet our soulmates soon. Now, guess what our dear father bestowed upon me during your absence! I am Jotun! Yeah, I know! He picked me up as a babe, but hey, I can do ice magic now!”

A few months after Thor’s banishment ended, he and Loki were sent on a quest to Midgard because a group called The Black Order were planning on stealing the Tesseract.

“Perhaps you’ll meet your soulmate!” Loki cheered as they departed from the Bifrost. “We are long overdue, us being over a thousand years old.”

“What about you, dear brother? Don’t you want to meet GM?”

“Yes, Thor, we all want to meet our soulmates. But, let’s face it, you’re older, you are going to inherit the throne first. You proved your worthiness, I haven’t, even if we have not met our soulmates.”

Bruce was pissed. He had been whisked off from India, where he was doing good for once in his life, back to the United States, back to New York, to find this Tesseract thing. But Bruce knew better. This SHIELD organization just wanted to experiment on Hulk, they always did. Why couldn’t Bruce have been born into a loving family, as a boy, and not turn into a monster?

“H-Hey I’m Bruce Banner,” Bruce stuttered when the quinjet landed and he met the team he would be working with: Tony Stark, Nick Fury, Phil Coulson, Erik Selvig, the Norse Gods Thor and Loki, Steve Rogers, Clint Barton, and Natasha Romanoff.

God damn, Thor thought when he laid eyes on Bruce. That guy is stunning!

“Good to meet you, Dr. Banner,” Tony said as he shook Bruce’s hand. I hope that wasn’t weak. “Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled, and I’m a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster.”

“Thanks,” Bruce replied sarcastically. At least no one here cared, or hopefully even knew he was trans.

“Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube,” called Fury. Thank you! “I was hoping you might join him.”

Captain Rogers spoke up. “Let’s start with that stick of his, Thanos I mean. It’s magical but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon.”

“I don’t know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I’d like to know how Thanos turned two of our sharpest men into his personal flying monkeys.”

“Monkeys?” Thor questioned. Bruce wondered. TO? Could that stand for Thor, Son of Odin, or Odinson?

“I understood that reference!” Steve smiled, while Tony rolled his eyes at the recently defrosted Soldier.

However, before Bruce could test his Soulmate theory, Tony whisked him away to do research.

Thor decided to do research on Dr. Banner and found out his first name was actually Robert. “Loki! I think Dr. Banner is RB! Look, his first name is Robert!” he cheered.

“Now to get close enough for the soulmate bond to recognize. You have to be touching, right?” Loki asked for clarification.

“Yes! At the end of the battle, I’ll give him a celebratory hug!” Thor hugged Loki for reference, in his signature rib-crushing style.

“Ouch, brother, do you want to kill your soulmate? He is merely mortal!”

“Alas, soulmate Banner is tougher than he looks.”

“He looks like an anxious mess,” Loki pointed out. “I have a point; he is especially fragile! Look at how he stood, playing with his sleeves and picking at his fingers.”

“I will teach him that he does not have to fear, that I will always be there, his soulmate.”

“That’s my secret, Cap. I’m always angry,” Bruce calmly said as he transformed into Hulk to take down the Chitauri and the rest of the Black Order.

That’s my fucking soulmate! Thor thought as he continued battling. Eventually, Thor cut off Thanos’ head with a sword he had taken from one of the dead Black Order… creatures. It was official, there was no remaining child of Thanos. They had won.

Thor threw the sword to the side and charged over to Hulk, who was transforming back to Bruce. He was glad his armor that day was sleeveless, he wanted to see his mark change. He didn’t care that Bruce was naked, he was going to hug his soulmate, damn it!

The two were engulfed in a flurry of light for a mere moment, but their arms stung as Thor’s mark changed to purple, while Bruce’s turned red.

“Holy shit,” Bruce swore, then realized he was naked, and moved quickly to hide from the Avengers and SHIELD agents. “Please, don’t look at me!” he yelled as he pulled on some discarded clothing.

“My soulmate! What troubles you?” Thor thundered, causing Bruce to flinch.

“What happened to your penis? Blown off in war?” Steve asked curiously. “I knew a few guys in my time who had that happen.”

“Uh, yeah, I can’t afford the surgery to get a new one.” Bruce lied. The man was from the 40s, who knew how he felt about queers?

“And those lines on your chest?” Bruce blushed, hard.

“Friend, Captain, do not worry my soulmate! He will tell us about his traumas when he is ready, and it is obvious he is not ready!” Thor explained as he held Bruce’s hand to stop him from running. It also served to calm the man.

“Thank you,” Bruce sighed. He’d never had anyone stand up for him like that.

Thor was back on Asgard. ‘How did I get here? I was with Bruce.’ he thought, several theories firing up as he waited for whatever had him home.

“So, you met your soulmate!” Odin called out, walking over to Thor and patting his son on the back. “Have you completed the final part of the ritual?”

“W-what ritual? We hugged and then our marks changed. Is that not it?” Thor asked with confusion. In all his years, in all the times he had asked about his soulmate and what happened when you met the, neither Odin nor Frigga mentioned a ritual.

“Nay, my son. The final part of the ritual allows you to feel their pain and emotions.”

“Then tell me what it is so I can complete it!” Thor chuckled. Why was Odin keeping it a secret?

“Alright, my boy, I cannot keep this from you forever. To complete the soulmate ritual, the two souls must combine, so to speak.”

“Combine? How the Norns?”

“Thor, you are a young man, surely you have had sex!” Odin laughed as he patted his boy on the back. Thor’s face flushed.

“Yeah, definitely!” he lied. “So, all I have to do is bed my soulmate?”

“Yes, my boy. Now, you need not lie to me, son. It’s fine to wait for your soulmate.”

“Did you, Father?” asked Thor, feigning innocence. He may not have had much action, unlike his little brother, but he knew enough from Loki’s bragging.

“I would be lying if I said I waited,” Odin admitted.

Bruce almost Hulked out when he realized he and Thor had to have sex if they wanted to fully activate the Soulmate Bond. If he could have been dysphoric about his lack of a penis at only one moment, this would be it. ‘Does Hulk have a dick?’ he wondered, never taking the time to check, or perhaps he never had the thought. Would Thor want to fuck him even if he had… that?

When Thor awoke, he was glad to find that he had not left Stark Tower, where the Avengers had set up a temporary living space. Much of the building was covered in debris from yesterday’s attack, but Tony’s apartment was safe, and he ha a few guest rooms. Clint and Nat had shared, as they were soulmates and had already bonded. Tony paired Bruce and Thor up, though thankfully their room had two beds- soulmates or not, they had just met. Tony had his own room, leaving Steve to the couch.

He staggered to the kitchen and decided to look for food. Pop tarts! He exclaimed when he saw the delightful treat. He popped two into the toaster and poured a cup of coffee.

“You’re up early,” noted Bruce as he walked into the kitchen soon after Thor sat down.

“A warrior always rises early. That, and I couldn’t sleep any longer. I’ve been thinking about this soulmate bond,” Thor said.

“Yeah, me too. I’ve had one-night stands before, but it feels different when it’s with my soulmate. Especially when he’s as handsome as you,” Bruce paused. “I want to get to know you in other areas than the bedroom before we do that. I’ve always had an interest in mythology, and it’s not every day one of the figures you’ve spent your whole life reading is your soulmate. I’ve only read your stories; I don’t know the man behind them!”

“Which story is your favorite?” Thor asked with enthusiasm, he loved recounting his adventures, now his soulmate was well versed in them. This was a dream come true.

“Probably the one where you had to dress up like a bride to get Mjolnir back!”

“Ah, yes. Now that was awkward. I had never felt such shame in my life, not until Odin banished me to Midgard after I attacked Jotunheim because they ruined my coronation.”

Bruce looked at his soulmate in wonder. “I never read that myth!”

Thor laughed. “That is because it happened last year.”

“It happened last year?”

“That is what I said.”

“Damn, I was, uh, tearing up Harlem at the time.” Bruce blushed as he remembered the last time he had been in New York. “Anyway, can you tell me the story?”

“Why, yes, Banner. So, me and my brother, Loki, have always been extremely close. When my coronation was interrupted by the Frost Giants, Odin forbid me from attacking them. In rage, I disobeyed my father, and me, Loki, my friends the Warriors Three, and Lady Sif traveled to Jotunheim, where we were attacked. Odin found us, and he was pissed that I had started a war with the Jotun. Long story short, he saw me unfit to be king. I must admit that I was arrogant and said some things I regret. He put a spell on my hammer that said only those worthy could lift it, and if they could, they would have my powers. He sent me to a place called New Mexico, where I met a young scientist by the name of Jane Foster.”

“I’ve heard of Jane, she’s a genius on the field of astrophysics! I’ve wanted to work with her for years, you know her?”

“Yes, she helped me to get my hammer back! I saved her from being killed by a being known as the Destroyer. He nearly killed me, but my selfless act proved me worthy and I was saved!”

‘He’s so fucking brave’ thought Bruce as he listened intently to Thor’s story. Of his adventure in New Mexico.

“What about you? Do you have any adventures?” Thor asked.

“N-not any that I would be able to tell, bad memories,” Bruce admitted quietly. “Whether it’s my mom being killed, my dad being abusive, being trapped in this hellhole of a vessel I call my body and my mind, being the Hulk,” he listed, every bad thing that had happened in his life flashing back to him. The only good times he had were in science labs, studying science.

“What’s wrong with your body? You’re incredibly handsome, Bruce. I don’t care I you have a penis or not. You’re still a man in my eyes.”

“It, uh, wasn’t blasted off in war. I never had one. These scars on my chest?” Bruce started, pulling his shirt off as he pointed to the thin lines lining the bottoms of his pecs. “Were from when I had my chest tissue surgically removed. Thor, I was born female.” Bruce’s eyes burned with the beginnings of tears, he could feel Hulk thundering in the back of his mind, begging to be released.

“HULK SMASH” he yelled in Hulk’s voice, before slipping back into Banner-mode. He threw his fists down onto the bed as he flopped onto it. His skin turned green but otherwise, he was still Banner. Hyperventilating, the years of ridicule he had faced at the hands of his father, and later Ross, flashed before his eyes.

“Bruce, you’re okay. I’m totally fine with it! These feelings are common on Asgard! If I could pass as a woman to a Giant, you sure as Hel can as a man. And you are a man, you aren’t pretending like I was pretending to be a woman.”

“Thanks.” Bruce took the compliment, not quite believing it. He hasn’t properly accepted a compliment in years, knowing from experience that trust would lead him to betrayal in the end.

“I mean it, Bruce. I would never lie to you; you have my word.”

Bruce spits blood as he takes yet another punch. “God damn it, Becca, how many times do I have to beat it into your head that you ain’t a boy?” Brian snarls, before punching Bruce again.

“Gee, why don’t ya punch me again, see if that does it?” Bruce yells, sarcasm dripping from his busted lips. Brian follows the request, breaking his child’s nose. Bruce’s head snaps back, hitting the concrete floor, knocking him out.

Except he doesn’t. Instead of going unconscious, Bruce transforms into the Hulk, growing in size until he stood, seven feet tall, green, still bleeding. “What the hell, girl?” Brian swears before Bruce snaps, forcing his father into the concrete. SMASH. SMASH. SMASH!

“Y-you punch like a girl. Oh wait, you are one, even if you’re a fuckin monster inside.”

Bruce wakes suddenly. He never was present for his father’s death, being deep in research at that point. He hadn’t even gone to the funeral, knowing his relatives would still see Bruce as the little girl he had always been in their eyes. Even if his curly locks had long been cut, and he had stubble along his jaw, and he had recently gotten top surgery, they would still call him Rebecca.

Yet, his mind, since he had turned into Hulk, liked to show scenes of him Hulking out on Brian, killing him, even though the man had died in real life from old age. Even in death, the man still hated his child. No, hate wasn’t strong enough a word. Brian despised Bruce.

Bruce didn’t realize he was crying until he couldn’t breathe, his sobs choking him, sending him into a panic attack. “Thor! Thor!” he managed to scream, throat dry, closing up, his fingernails clawing at his forearms.

“Banner?” Thor mumbled as he awoke, exhaustion still in his bass voice. “What’s wrong?” he reached over to turn on a light, only to see the smaller man shaking and scratching himself. “Hey, hey, hey, it’s fine. I’m here, you’re not in danger!”

Bruce jumps back at Thor’s fingers touching his bare chest. “Don’t hurt me!” he cries. “Dad, no! Okay, fine, I’m a fucking girl, I’ll never be a man!”

“Shhhh, the sun’s getting low, I won’t hurt you, you’ll never be hurt again. Your father is dead.” Thor reaches out to calm the man the way he used to calm Loki when the God of Mischief woke from nightmares. At first, Bruce flinches but then accepts the soft touch of Thor rubbing his back and brushing his hair from his face. Thor allows Bruce to cry into his chest, let the tears fall as his panic attack fades. “Bruce, my love, are you okay?”

“N-no. My dad,” he stutters. His face burns even harder than it was from his panic attack.

“Is dead, sweetheart. He won’t hurt you; I won’t allow it. If anyone hurts you, I will kill them. I’ve slain more enemies than the number of years I’ve been alive, that bastard won’t be the first nor the last.”

Bruce looks down at his wrists, skin torn and bleeding. He frowns, feeling the sting of his tears and sweat mixing with the wounds.

“Ah, I shall kiss them better,” Thor remarks, before running his lips over each and every mark. To Bruce’s amazement, the blood stops running, and each line turns white before disappearing completely.

“Can soulmates just do that?” Bruce asks.

“No, I don’t think so. However, I can. When Loki and I were small, my mother would kiss our battle injuries away, and by that, I mean the wounds from when Loki stabbed me. I guess I inherited her magic. Ironic, since Loki is the one of us that can perform spells.”

“Kiss all of my pain away,” Bruce smiles as he pecks the God on the lips. Thor quickly deepens the kiss as the two lean back so Thor straddles Bruce.

“Are you okay, my love?” Thor asks with concern. He feels a massive pleasure course throughout his body like lightning, but he can stop if his soulmate is too uncomfortable.

“I’m okay,” Bruce whispers. “I’ll tell you if my dysphoria gets to be too much.”

Bruce wakes the next morning and smiles at his soulmate, his naked form covered by their comforter. They had officially completed the soulmate bond.

#thorbruce #trans bruce #gammahammer #thunderscience #thor #bruce banner #dysphoria #cw:slurs #cw:abuse #cw: panic attacks

78 notes · View notes

missskzbiased · 3 years

Text

Tag game!

Tagged by @aliceu (🥺🥰)

Why did you choose your url?

I wanted to be SKZBiased since I love all of them but it wasn't available, so I added 'Miss' SUHAHUSAHUSAH

Do you have any sideblogs? if you do, name them and say why you have them.

Yes, I do! It's @missy-organized and I made it so I could organize the fanfics I wanted to read later by "sfw/nsfw" and length. It was also a way to allow minors to read my sfw stuff without having to put up with the nsfw posts I rb from time to time (But I don't think any of them followed it LOL)

How long have you been on tumblr?

No idea... 2020 for sure but I don't know the month

Do you have a queue tag?

I used the queue once and then forgot how to use it LOL but when I used it, I didn't have a tag. Maybe self rb.

Why did you start your blog?

I wanted to practice my English writing since I can understand it (read/listen) but not write/speak that well. I also missed to write fanfics and put my ideas to good use so I can chill lol

Why did you choose your icon/pfp?

Because I find it hilarious

Why did you choose your header?

To match the color I wanted and because it had all the boys

What’s your post with the most notes?

I don't know? Probably "(Not) a Cute Little Bun" (Smut fanfic)

How many mutuals do you have?

I have no idea, I don't really pay attention to this lol

How many followers do you have?

🤷‍♀️

How many people do you follow?

286 but I have to unfollow some blogs, I'm just lazy to keep track of things

Have you ever made a shitpost?

I don't think so?

How often do you use tumblr each day?

I usually let it open as I study 'cause I like to feel that I'm doing lots of things at once SUHAUHSAUHSAUHSUAH But I don't know, officially a few hours a day?

Have you ever had a fight/argument with another blog? who won?

I don't think I ever got to a fight here... If I did, I didn't notice I was fighting SUHAUHSAUHSAHUHUSA

How do you feel about ‘you need to compare this’ posts?

I don't even know what this is

Do you like tag games?

Yep~

Do you like ask games?

Yes but I usually don't get many answers SUHAHUSAUHSUHAUHSAUHSA I'm a lonely wolf in this vast Tumblr world

Which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

I have no idea? Mika definitely is but I don't know if I have any other famous mutuals? I don't really pay attention to this LOL

Do you have a crush on a mutual?

Nop

Tagging @soulssung @jungcherie

#tag game

2 notes · View notes

nataliehegert · 5 years

Link

In this last of meeting places We grope together And avoid speech Gathered on this beach of the tumid river… This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper. — T.S. Eliot, The Hollow Man

Ah well, what matter, that’s what I always say, it will have been a happy day, after all, another happy day. — Samuel Beckett, Happy Days

In Nevil Shute’s 1957 novel, On the Beach, his characters—among the last people alive in the world after a hemispheric atomic war—live out their final days waiting for an inevitable cloud of radiation borne by global air currents to finally make its way to the southern tip of Australia. The book is boring and hopeless, as are these last humans puttering in their gardens to plant flowers that no one will ever see, taking on last minute efforts at self-improvement, worrying about sex and fidelity.

“Couldn’t anyone have stopped it?” the wife asks helplessly in their final hour.

“I don’t know…” her husband replies patronizingly. “Some kinds of silliness you just can’t stop,” he says, referring to the nuclear war that annihilated the planet.

The much-acclaimed opera-installation Sun & Sea (Marina), in the Lithuanian Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale, likewise portrays passive, helpless bystanders to the end of the world, but it is a much more ambiguous apocalypse. A group of disconnected vacationers lounge on the sand of a nameless beach—at first nothing seems amiss, but as they sing, the details of their world come into focus. “The colors of the sea and sky have changed,” they sing. The sea is “as green as a forest”—owing to the process of eutrophication1—the Great Barrier Reef is a “bleached, pallid whiteness.” They complain of sunburns and strange weather, airport delays and trash on the beach. Their concerns are immediate and minor, while the world is clearly falling apart around them.

While other depictions of a post-climate-disaster world succumb to visions of the apocalyptic sublime—such as Waterworld (1995), or Mad Max (1979)—Sun & Sea is decidedly restrained, non-epic, banal. Instead of a deliciously outlandish doomsday scenario, it is just a rather disappointing day at the beach. In both setting and attitude, the installation more closely recalls the absurdist play Happy Days by Beckett,2 which finds its protagonist buried in a mound of sand, furtively trying to maintain a semblance of normalcy in her life. Likewise, the characters of Sun & Sea, though they find it strange, have clearly adapted to the new normal. And while it is clear that “Everything is out of joint” in the climate, it seems there is nothing to be done (“There is so little one can do,” laments the protagonist of Happy Days). So, you might as well try to enjoy yourself: “After vacation, / Your hair shines, / Your eyes glitter, / Everything is fine,” they sing.

Staff Writer Natalie Hegert speaks with theater director Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, playwright Vaiva Grainytė, and composer Lina Lapelytė about their Golden Lion-winning production and the message behind it.

Natalie Hegert: Not only has Sun & Sea received abundant and unanimous praise among the critics and the most prestigious prize at the Biennale, it is also proving to make a most lasting impression on spectators and continues to be talked about. Did you have any idea your contribution to the Biennale would be received like this?

Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė: This was beyond our expectations of course. Vaiva Grainyte˙: If you ask me, I felt our opera-performance might look distinguishing in the context of Biennale, but we did not have much time to think about success—the logistics and preparation were quite challenging and intense.

Lina Lapelytė: It was not an easy project and it was risky on many levels—so the jury team in Lithuania already was brave enough to select it. What happened during the first week of biennale feels like something that almost does not belong to us. Someone said, It is a Cinderella story.

This was definitely not written in our scenario. Before the opening, we were preparing our performers to be ready for an almost empty pavilion and find a joy in performing if there was only one member of the audience. Now during the performance days, we receive an average of 1,300 people. Every role on the beach has to have at least three people able to perform it.

NH: Why did you create this as an opera, as opposed to another kind of performance art, theatrical spectacle, or visual art? How did you approach its staging within the context of the Biennale—to place it among what is primarily a showcase of visual arts? Was it much different from its first staging, in Lithuania (besides the language)?

Vaiva Grainytė: Our trio started with debut piece Have a Good Day! (2014)—a contemporary opera for ten singing cashiers, supermarket sounds, and piano. I find opera to be the perfect genre for us to unite our artistic practices (text, music, and visuality). Nonetheless, the durational version of Sun & Sea crosses the boundaries of other arts. ‘Opera,’ I would say, indicates the marriage of different arts, but this piece itself can be called something else: installation, architectural poetry, concert…

LL: Opera is a very particular place for the three of us—we kind of invented a method of working in this genre. Opera is as visual art as any other kind of installation, sculpture, or painting. The genre itself often belongs to the music world but personally, in my own practice, prefer to look at music—opposed to the idea that it is only for listening. Opera is literature; it is music; it is fine arts. It is a gesamtkunstwerk, and none of the features are more important than the other.

RB: Sun & Sea grew from the visual, and still is a very visual work. Other elements—mainly text and music—bring different layers, form-wise, so the work becomes more complex. However, in this complexity we seek for simplicity.

NH: One of the things that is so striking is the opera’s placidness. There seem to be no great highs or lows, no climax or crescendo, no great emotion expressed. The singers are, for the most part, singing while lying down. There is very little movement, most of it being incidental, and the musical accompaniment is minimal. Even the scenery is quite pared down—there is simply sand, with no unusual lighting or representation of the kind of toxic sea that is suggested by the libretto. It is anti-apocalyptic, but also almost anti-theatrical. Can you tell me why you decided to present it in this way?

RB: You have put it in very right words. We have static bodies, but very often their minds are active, transforming from reminiscences to reflections, dreams, etc. Waves of these inner monologues grow into choirs, then flood back into solos again. Performers are static while they are singing, but other times they are free to move alongside kids, dogs, and other volunteers who are building castles, playing beach games, eating, etc. This brings uncontrolled reality into the fictional construct.

LL: In our case, the representation is based on a very clear conceptual grounding—all the further details of the work follow that concept. We try to restrain ourselves from using self-oriented tricks and effects; therefore, most of the details are there because of the true necessity.

VG: The light picture of lazy holidays is just a surface: we are sunbathing while the world is crashing.

NH: What kind of research into climate change and its effects did you undertake to imagine the world of Sun & Sea?

LL: The research spanned from mainstream media, scientific investigations, personal views, experiences and dreams, and conversations and reflections.

VG: Before writing the libretto, the research was done. It was necessary to understand what CO2, emissions and food miles are, and why our planet is in its current state. After dealing with that scientific information, we came up with the realization that catastrophe is caused by our—homo sapiens—uncontrollable consumption. Consumption, which is so pleasant and stands as the core of our lives. The idea was to reveal the tragedy by personal approach, employing micro-stories, as ecology is such a huge topic. That is to say, disastrous pictures of dying and choked-in-plastic animals seem to be too anonymous, too difficult for our brains to process what is happening.

RB: Climate change is such a popular topic, but we did not want to manifest scientific facts, or to be moralistic. It was important to deepen the knowledge in this field. We were reading specific literature, but Sun & Sea is not about facts at all. It is about mundane narratives of holidaymakers, surrounded by apocalypse. But on a daily basis [it reflects something] other than that.

NH: What kind of message did you set out to impart? Do you feel that the installation gives any sense of hope for our future? Or is this scene something of a foregone conclusion for our world?

VG: It is up to each spectator to read the message on their own. The mosaic of characters and their songs suggest a kaleidoscopic approach, so there is no conclusion or “one truth” as such.

RB: To expand the beach topic in a global perspective: sunbathing may soon become available where polar bears used to live. I think we are neither giving a sense of hope for the future, nor taking it away. We do not know the right answer, and this is probably our luck.

LL: The work is a question, but also a reflection, on where we are and who we are, but the hope is in every one of us. In the tiny things, the love that we all share. Though that love must also be super critical and questioning many things that are taken for granted. It is hard!

NH: You three have worked together before, on the opera Have a Good Day!, and Sun & Sea is your second collaboration. In light of your spectacular success, do you have plans to work together again?

VG: Success might breed rush and greediness, but our trio is rather slow in terms of developing a new piece. Each piece needs time and mental energy so it could grow in a healthy way. After this prolonged Venetian adventure (the performance is running twice a week until the end of October) we need some time to reflect on what has happened, plus a tour with Sun & Sea will require special attention. We have some ideas for a new work, so probably one day it will be embodied.

RB: Each of us have individual practices, which are extremely important for our common work; everything we learn separately we bring in as an experience. I think we all need some separate creative space and time before considering going into the next trio work.

LL: We do not force the situation and it may take some time for us to come up with a new idea for a collaborative work. The fact that we all have individual practices makes things slower, but also creates a real need for coming back together.

The Pavilion of Lithuania, Sun & Sea (Marina), at the Venice Biennale runs through October 31, 2019.

1. An effect of particular concern to the Baltic Sea, on whose coast Lithuania is situated.

2. Whose title, perhaps coincidentally, finds echoes in the Lithuanian artists’ first opera, Have a Good Day! (2014).

Interview Posted on 9/19/2019, Printed in THE SEEN Issue 09, September 2019

#Highlights #interview #in print

0 notes